New Dawn

Summary:
Kimi White is a Native American healer of the Haisla Tribe who just might be enough to erase his pain and open his eyes. But what will happen after Bella hears about this? How's Edward going to react? Most of all, how would Jacob feel about this? Is his life going to revolve around Bella, even when, BETTER opportunities arise? Read and find out =] btw, this is our first story so... dont be too harsh.

Notes:
We're tired of the Jacob, Bella, and Edward pair. We're deciding to keep his same personality but give him a whole new story (WITHOUT BREAKING THE RULES) check it out if you want to read something different. By WE, as in there are two authors of this story.. so DUH we share an account =]

I ran quickly to him and threw my arms around him to express my gratitude. Just as quickly, I withdrew my arms. His skin was so hot!

“Sorry…Are you okay? Your temperature is running so high…you must have a fever!”

JACOB BLACK:

I didn’t know how to answer her. I knew what she was thinking wasn’t true but I wondered how I should explain it to her.

“I’m fine, really,” was all I managed to say.

“Are you sure? You must come in, I’ll have my grandmother take a look at you,” she offered.

“No thanks, I’ll be going now. I have to get back anyway,” I lied

“Please can you come in? My grandparents and father would love hear how I found my way home.”

“Alright. If it makes you happy,” I told her. I felt pleased to say those words to her.

She leaded me further into the village. Memories erupted in my mind about my village. It felt so oddly warm to see a village, similar to mine. Off to a far distance that seemed like a familiar on-growing green forest, were Haisla boys, looking similar in age to mine but no where near as tall as me. It reminded me of when Quil, Embry, and I used to hang out on the weekend near the forest in La Push near the jagged rocks of the cliff.

Further down the streets were little houses, a reservation, but it was much larger than mine.

“This way,” she led me.

We walked through the neighborhood passing many houses and buildings on the way.

“It’s not that much farther. You’re probably really tired,” she said.

“Nah, I’m okay. You should be the one more tired than me. You went through a lot.”

She smiled at me. I noticed that not many people were out in the streets. It was also really quiet too but I could tell it wasn’t deserted.

“Is it always this quiet?” I asked, looking around.

“It’s not noisy but it isn’t really this quiet. Maybe something’s going on,” she suggested.

We kept walking a little more until we got to her house. There were a few people there. She looked confused.

“Why are my aunts and uncles here?”

“Your house is the only house with people that I saw in it,” I said, trying to make the air feel light. It didn’t work.

She hurried at a faster pace to her front door and then opened it. I followed behind her.

The house was full, much less the people outside. No one seemed to have noticed us. They were all too concentrated on something else. Looking over everyone’s head, I saw a body lying on the floor. It was a man, he didn’t look old but really worn as if he were ill. An older woman sat above him on the floor chanting unfamiliar words. Incense sticks filled the atmosphere with a floral scent. Someone had died.

Kimi hurried through the crowd of people nearing the front. I stayed in the back, closer to the door. She got to the front as everyone easily led her through. She halted in her tracks as she finally saw what happened. Suddenly, she started to cry and dropped to the floor. She looked into the older woman’s eyes. I could tell this was her grandmother.

“Did you bring it?” Oh no, she didn’t find the plant.

She began to burst into more tears. “No, Shimasani, I couldn’t find it. I looked everywhere… I injured myself, that’s why.” She cried more.

Her grandmother didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong with father?”

“He has gotten sick as well, dear. I don’t know how to save him. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

“No, there has to be another way to save him. What’s going to happen to the tribe? What will become of me?”

Just then, the man’s eye began to open barely squinting. “My dear Kimi, please do not weep over me. I am but only sick and I shall leave this earth soon. I cannot bear to see you in this way weeping over me. You know, I haven’t given you that many years of my life but you were always in my heart and mind. Please take care of yourself. You’re getting older every day. I am only but one person in this world. Please do not weep over me. I do not blame you for not succeeding on your grandmother’s wishes as it is a very hard plant to find during this time and I doubt its anywhere near our city. I’m glad you have returned. My last wish was to see your face before my soul departed from my body. My dear, with these words, I leave you. I will always love you no matter what. You were always my Kimi and will be forever and ever—” he finished. His eyes closed to a peaceful rest.

Everyone started to cry. Shouts from the crowd flew across the room.

“Who’s going to be the next chief?” “What will happen to us?” “Half of us are already sick, now what?”

It finally occurred to me that Kimi was the daughter of the chief. He just died due to the sickness that was spreading through the village. Kimi was sent so that she could find a remedy but she didn’t.

Her grandmother left her son’s side and went to look at a picture. It was of a lady resembling Kimi a lot in her facial features. It had to be her mom.

“Mahu, your husband will be joining you. I’m sure he’s already there. Please take good care of him. He’s been such a wonderful tribe leader as well as a father and son and I’m sure, husband. Please let him know that we all miss him and will see him again—someday,” Kimi’s grandmother said to the picture. She then mumbled some unfamiliar words, I guess it was an old tribe’s thing.

Kimi walked back through the crowd, looking very pale. She was headed in my direction.

“I’m sorry I made you come back to such a sad occasion. You can leave if you want, I won’t stop you,” she said. She sounded as if she were a walking corpse.

“With all this commotion, you want to kick me out!”

“No—I didn’t mean it like that, I meant I don’t want you to put up with all of this. I thought that it would just be something my grandmother and I would discuss but that’s it.”

“Look, it’s a time where everyone’s going to be busy preparing for a funeral and there’s not going to be a lot of ‘talk’ time. You really need someone to talk to, don’t you think?”

“You would actually stay here just to talk with me? What about your family? I thought you were going back to them. You’re just a kid like me,” she said, really worked up now.

“Um, well, the family thing. I’m taking a break from them. But I know how to handle myself, trust me. Yeah I might be a kid but trust me, I’m as full adult as kid,” I said, I think I over did that last one.

“Look, I really can’t handle sarcasm right now, please. I really don’t mean to be offensive about the whole thing but I don’t want you to suffer here because of me.”

“Well, I wasn’t meaning to be sarcastic. I can understand how you feel and I know you’re not the happiest girl in the world right now but still. I will be here if you want me to. Just let me know where I can sleep.” I was trying to be a little enthusiastic but I didn’t get the vibe that it was working.

“If you want to stay, I guess you can stay in our house. There is an extra room but I’d have to talk to my grandmother first. She’s going to be hard to talk to now but the day is still young. You can hang around here if you want. I’m sorry to leave you by yourself now but as the chief’s daughter I have things that I must do.”

“I know. I understand. I’ll hang around the area but please don’t forget to ask your grandmother. I don’t want to wander back rejected at night before those men come after me now,” I laughed.

A smile started to grow slowly on her face. “Trust me, I doubt they’ll ever be interested in you.”

“You never know, they might want to take whatever they can get,” I retorted. “Anyway, enough about that I think you should go with your grandmother. I’ll be here if you need a shoulder to cry on, but I’d have to sit down first.”

She laughed a little. “You know. It’s so weird. You show up out of nowhere and turn out to be like an angel. You want to be there for me and for some reason, I trust you. I shouldn’t based on what you hear everyday but you’ve proved yourself that you’re sorta worth trusting.”

“Don’t worry, if it’s only sorta, I’ll prove that I’m fully worth trusting. I know its hard but still. And maybe, when I figure it out myself, oddly enough, I’ll tell you why.”

She looked a little confused but she was smiling still. “Um, okay. Well, whenever you figure it out, I’ll be here to listen to you. It means a lot to me, knowing I have someone to lean on.”

“Yeah, just look strong for now or else it will really weigh you down a lot. I’ll just make friendly conversation with the other people around.”

“Alright,” she said and she turned around. She stopped in her tracks and put her hand to my chest. She couldn’t reach my forehead as I could tell that’s where she was aiming for. “Your skin is still hot. I think I should take you to see my grandmother now,” she insisted.

“I’m okay, trust me,” I begged.

“I said I didn’t fully trust you…” she attempted weakly at humor. “So come on,” she said as she held my hand through the crowd.

Her hand was small; it would fit almost completely in mine. It was tender and bare and cold as well. When her hand touched mine, I felt a sudden spark through my body. I didn’t know how to explain it but I didn’t want to pull away. When she saw my expression, she gave me an unsure shy smile, tainted with sadness.

“Shimasani, can I talk to you?” Her grandmother was sitting on a chair as if she were meditating but I guess it wasn’t of much importance.

“Yes dear,” she answered looking at me. I smiled at her as Kimi loosened her hand from mine. I felt a little awkward because I was sure people were staring at us.

“Shimasani, feel Jacob’s skin. It’s really hot but he’s not sick. Why is he like this? I hope it’s not another symptom of the disease,” she said.

I really hope the reason why she was being nice to me wasn’t because she thought I was going to die or become really ill soon.

The old lady signaled me to bend down so that she can feel my forehead. She left her hands there for a little while longer than I expected. I hope she didn’t know the true answers to Kimi’s question. I suppose she didn’t because only my tribe knew about this. If I didn’t even know as a young boy then how could other tribe’s people have known?

Her grandmother laughed a little. “Son, during these hard times, you managed to make me smile. It’s really interesting to see you like this. I’m not fully sure why you are like this but I have heard stories about your tribe when I was young. Of course, I don’t know whether they are true or not. Today’s people wouldn’t believe it but I still believe in the mystical world. I haven’t fully seen it myself but the least I can do is have faith in it.”

“I’m not sick. I’ve always been like this since two years ag—“

This is a complete violation of the treaty. I should not be saying this. Stop talking about it!

“Well, son, it’s because you are in that stage of life where manhood is taking over,” she plainly said. I felt a little uncomfortable. Kimi giggled.